Raspberry Questions? Brand New

googooflexyJune 4, 2014

Let me start with some background. I live in the very north portion of SC. Hot summers, lots of days without rain, etc...
My wife and I bought a house a short time ago and I have come to find out that we have Raspberry bushes (stalks, whatever you call them) the entire width of our backyard. I probably cut down 40+ stalks with a chain saw and a lawn mower trying to move some of the brush out of my backyard before I realized we had Raspberries, that said we have thousands, or tens of thousands of berries coming in right now along the entire width of our backyard, many of the stalks or bushes are in excess of 5-7 feet high. I am still wanting to clear out that portion of my backyard but I am wanting to transplant the stalks in the best way possible down both sides, basically moving dozens and dozens of stalks if possible. My questions are

1. What is the best way to prune and move these things, all of mine are severely intertwined by the dozens.
2. What spacing and how many wide should I plant these, I am looking to keep producing Raspberries but also looking for a solid divider between my yard and my neighbors yard. 3. How well will these grow and produce berries in partial or complete shade.
4. Please send me any and ALL information sources I can learn from, I probably have hundreds of well developed stalks behind my yard and I don't want to waste them, but I do not want them where they are

Are you sure you have raspberries and not blackberries? Blackberries are better suited to your climate, especially since you note that it is typically hot and dry during the summers. Wild blackberries are common along fence rows in most of the South. Just confirming.

In your situation, I would manage the thicket as best I could during the summer, and do the transplanting in September or even October, when it is cooler, and the plants are beginning to slow down their growth. You can pick the plants with the best fruit, and tie a string or something colorful around the base, so that you know the best plants to dig up and move. With raspberries, three feet spacing between clumps works pretty well. Most people plant them in a row, so there is access from both sides. If they are healthy and vigorous, they will put our runners to either side, and it will be necessary to pull out the volunteers once or twice a year, typically in the spring and again in the fall. These volunteers can be dug up and used to establish new raspberry beds, if you know of other people who could put them to use. Otherwise, they are simply weeds, and they go on the compost pile. If you do not actively manage the bed, it will quickly grow into an impenetrable thicket.

Now is not the time to move them. You might be asking around for people who want some. You will have extras. Basically I would plan a whole back yard makeover and do it in the fall or early spring.

As for containment, they like to spread. I am thinking of buying sheet metal (yellow pages for a sheet metal shop) 12" depth would contain pretty well, but over time not 100%. As they pop up in your grass, normal mowing takes care of that. That is how my father in law contains his and he is fussy about his lawn.

Agree,..don't cut now,..sit back and evaluate over a season or
two,..you might regret in what you did.
Find out when they fruit of what you have and what you actually like or dislike,..can't find out when all is cut.

Sounds like they weren't kept up, you can cut any old brown canes this summer - they should be starting to fruit down there now since mine are blooming up here. Don't cut the ones that are fruiting now until after harvest, and don't cut the young green ones, but you can cut the old brown ones that have fruited in the past now, and after harvest cut this year's fruiting canes down to the ground.

Then all you'll have left is this year's canes that you can transplant.